Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 74 Zhongshan King
The three left the branch detention center by car.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Chen Shu turned his head and asked, "Xiao Lin, are you on duty today or working overtime?"

Xiao Lin from the plainclothes team said, "Officer Chen, the plainclothes team members who were on duty today were called away by Officer Wang from your security group to handle a case. I was notified at the last minute to work overtime."

Officer Wang, whose real name is Wang Chongming, works in the security team at Zhongshan Police Station along with Chen Shu. He is 34 years old, not very tall, but speaks very logically.

Unlike Chen Shu, who was usually arrested in surprise raids, Wang Chongming preferred to do thorough and meticulous preliminary work before making a sure-fire arrest.

The cases primarily target prostitution or gambling, characterized by a large number of people involved and substantial sums of money. In his own words, he aimed to "find one case to meet a month's quota."

Although Wang Chongming's motives for handling the case were not particularly noble, being a police officer is really just a job, a job where you complete your KPIs on time and collect your due salary.

Everyone has their own way of living. As long as they have put in the work and are worthy of their wages, no one else has the right to criticize them.

Chen Shu nodded slightly, somewhat approving of Xiao Lin's response: "Are you going back to the station or home now? We'll take you home first; you've worked hard."

Xiao Lin said, "I'm going home tonight. But I'll go back to the station with you guys. My electric scooter is still at the station, and I'll have to ride it back to work tomorrow."

Chen Shu said, "Okay."

He took out his phone and dialed Wang Chongming: "Brother Wang, what are you doing?"

"Chen Shu, are you short of quotas?" A calm voice came from the phone.

"Hehe, Brother Wang really understands me. How's your business going? Do you need any more people?"

"When have I ever been short-staffed when I was on a case? But it's good that you came. More people means more efficiency. We can finish the case sooner and go home sooner."

“Okay, send me your location and I’ll head over there right away.” Chen Shu grinned, knowing that with a case to handle, things would be much easier.

"Haha, sure. But everyone's already under control, and we're currently conducting body searches and cleaning up the scene. Why don't you bring over the van from the station? That way, transporting people will be faster." Wang Chongming's voice was calm yet exuded a sense of authority.

"Ok."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shu said to Zhu Chaoran, "Fatty, let's work overtime tonight. We'll work with Wang Chongming's team on the case of organized gambling. You'll get a day off on Monday."

Such group gambling often involves anywhere from eight or nine to twenty or thirty people. Adding the casino's management personnel, the sheer number of participants makes it a major case. Generally, it requires a significant police presence; otherwise, completing the preliminary procedures within 24 hours would be quite difficult.

In gambling cases, in addition to administrative penalties for gamblers, casino managers are very likely to be criminally detained for "operating a casino," which involves criminal activity. Gambling funds seized on-site will be confiscated.

Zhu Chaoran nodded: "Okay, Brother Shu, I'll follow your arrangements."

Xiao Lin interjected, "Officer Chen, could I come over and help out tonight? I have some things to take care of on Monday, and I'd like to work overtime in exchange for a day off."

Chen Shu smiled, feeling a bit fond of this shy young man: "If you have something to do at home, just ask your team leader for leave to take care of it. There's no need to come here to work overtime. We're usually so busy that we don't know what to do, so it's okay to go home and take care of something if you have some free time."

Kobayashi said, "I'm still a little embarrassed."

Chen Shu said, "Go home peacefully tonight. I'll talk to your captain later. Didn't you work overtime tonight, accompanying us to take your girlfriend to the detention center? I'll give you half a day off on Monday." "Thank you, Officer Chen."

The three returned to Zhongshan Institute. Chen Shu and Zhu Chaoran switched to the institute's Wuling minivan and headed straight for the location sent by Wang Chongming.

No. 299 Shangcheng Road is an old, three-story residential building.

When Chen Shu arrived at the scene, he saw Wang Chongming standing among dozens of people under surveillance who were squatting down on the first floor, directing and arranging for police officers to search them.

When Wang Chongming saw Chen Shu approaching, he pulled aside a nearby auxiliary police officer and gave him a few instructions before walking towards where Chen Shu was.

Chen Shu pointed to the dozens of people squatting on the ground, clicked his tongue slightly, and said in surprise, "Brother Wang, you're just a policeman dealing with so many people? Can you handle it? Isn't the responsibility too great?"

Currently, China is facing a severe shortage of police officers at the grassroots level, and police officers from local police stations are always accompanied by a certain number of auxiliary police officers when they go out to handle cases.

Chen Shu's surprise stemmed from two points.

Firstly, the current monthly criminal detention quota for police officers at the Zhongshan Police Station is two, and the administrative detention quota is eight. With only a few dozen people involved in gambling cases, the quota is significantly exceeded. However, the increased number of cases also raises the investigation risk considerably.

Secondly, since auxiliary police officers do not have law enforcement authority, if problems or accidents occur during the handling of cases, the police officers will bear the majority of the responsibility and subsequent penalties.

As someone who deeply understands Wang Chongming's cautious approach to cases, Chen Shu's words can be summarized in one sentence:

You, Wang Chongming, shouldn't have handled this case alone.

Wang Chongming turned around, looked at the sea of ​​people in front of him, and said with a mournful face, "Do you think I wanted this? I thought it was a gambling den, but when I sneaked in, I found out it was a casino. I don't know where the casino owner learned the Singles' Day promotional policy from, but they're using a one-yuan cut per game to attract customers!"
Also, don't be fooled by the large number of people squatting here; the money flying around on the tables is only around ten thousand yuan. What are they thinking? Watching the national football team at home is more exciting than this!"

Chen Shu pursed his lips: "Then let's just back off, we can do it again next time."

Wang Chongming shrugged: "We were spotted by the 'eyes' when we were leaving. I've been watching this place for a long time, and if we leave now, this den will definitely disappear. So I just went ahead and did it. In any case, the number of people should be enough to warrant criminal detention."

Chen Shu touched his nose. It turned out that he hadn't come here to gain an advantage or get a quota; he had been completely outmaneuvered.

“Brother Wang, this standard for criminal detention is sufficient. But with such a large group of people, if it's just the two of us taking identification statements, it will take forever.”

Wang Chongming smirked, admitting defeat.

As expected of Brother Wang, who never fights unprepared battles. Wang Chongming's calm demeanor earlier was actually a prelude to luring me here.

One of the circumstances under which someone can be criminally detained for gambling or operating a casino is when they organize gambling with three or more people, and the total number of gamblers reaches 20.

Chen Shu scanned the crowd and saw a familiar-looking fat man, Boss Zheng, Zheng Tianyou, a stall owner at the Dongzhou Secondhand Goods Exchange Market.

The latter also noticed him, her eyes flashing with pleading, especially when she saw the nearby police officers who treated her with great respect.

Chen Shu was secretly pleased and turned to Wang Chongming, saying, "I saw an acquaintance. That's great, this case should be easier to handle now."

(End of this chapter)